“A handsome, impassioned film by Indian director Shekhar Kapur…gorgeous photography, strong production values, and urgent social criticism.”
—Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle

“As its story portrays a cycle of dehumanizing violence, the film also shapes a deeply disturbing vision of female servitude in caste-ridden rural India…Makes the anger of Thelma and Louise look like playground stuff.”
—Scott Rosenberg, San Francisco Examiner

“A visceral, if grueling, experience, especially when juxtaposed with sprawling, beautifully photographed vistas of the Indian deserts and mountain ranges.”
—David Jenkins, Time Out London

Director Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) brings us the horrifying real-life story of Phoolan Devi (Seema Biswas): born a lower-caste girl in rural India’s patriarchal society, “married” at 11, repeatedly raped and brutalized, she finds her freedom only as an avenging warrior, the eponymous Bandit Queen (1995). Devi becomes a kind of bloody Robin Hood; this extraordinary biographical film offers both a vivid portrait of a driven woman and a savage critique of the society that made her.